The Vatican Museums (Musei Vaticani) are the public art
and sculpture museums in the Vatican City, which display works from
the extensive collection of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Julius
II founded the museums in the 16th century. The Sistine Chapel and
the Stanze della Segnatura decorated by Raphael are on the visitor
route through the Vatican Museums. As of November 2006, it was
visited by more than 4,000,000 people for the year. The Vatican
Museums trace their origin to one marble sculpture, purchased 500
years ago.

The sculpture of Laocoön, the priest who, according to
Greek mythology, tried to convince the people of ancient Troy not
to accept the Greeks' gift of a hollow horse, was discovered 14
January 1506, in a vineyard near the of Santa Maria Maggiore in
Rome. Pope Julius II sent Giuliano da Sangallo and Michelangelo
Buonarroti, who were working at the Vatican, to check out the
discovery. On their recommendation, the pope immediately purchased
the sculpture from the vineyard owner. The pope put the sculpture
of Laocoön and his sons in the grips of a sea serpent on public
display at the Vatican exactly one month after its discovery. The
Museums celebrated their 500th anniversary in October 2006 by
permanently opening the excavations of a Vatican Hill necropolis to
the public.